1. Industrial Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a steering locking apparatus in which the rotation of a key rotor located at an unlocked position to a locked position is restricted by a restricting lever. To remove the restriction of the rotation of the key rotor a button should be pressed.
2. Description of the Related Art:
In conventional steering locking apparatuses of the type, the rotation of a key located at any of a plurality of unlocked positions to a locked position is restricted by a restricting lever. This restriction prevents the key from being carelessly rotated to the locked position when the key is rotated between any combination of unlocked positions, e.g., between "ON" and "ACC". When a driver desires to rotate the key rotor to the locked position when the vehicle is at a stop, he or she presses the pressing button. This removes the restriction of the rotation of the key rotor. In this apparatus, the key rotor can be rotated with the key from any unlocked position of the locked position by operating the pressing button either during the running of a vehicle or while the vehicle is at a stop.
Accordingly, Japanese Pat. Application Laid-Open Nos. 55-102750 and 58-8443 disclose a steering locking apparatus in which a plunger of an electromagnetic solenoid is engaged with a locking cam so as to prevent the rotation of the key rotor to a locked position during the running of the vehicle. However, in these apparatuses, since the rotation force acting on the locking cam is received by the plunger of the electromagnetic solenoid, the amount of load applied to the plunger is large. For this reason a large electromagnetic solenoid is required. Further, when an electromagnetic solenoid is removed unfairly, an opening that leads to a locking cam is formed. This allows a locking bar to be readily operated from the outside through the opening.